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When The Bones Sing Discussion Questions
Morgan Cooper
Created on November 3, 2025
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Transcript
When The Bones Sing
Socratic Discussion Circle - Literary Elements of Setting
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1. The Physical Location
2. Time
3. The Social World
4. Change
Description of Book: The past three years have been tough for Lucifer’s Creek, Arkansas, a small town quietly tucked away in the Ozark mountains. More than two dozen people have disappeared on the local hiking trails; there one moment, gone the next, not a trace left behind, until their buried bodies are discovered. 17-year-old Dovie doesn’t believe in magic even though she comes from a long line of women who can hear the bones of the dead sing, and for the past few years the bones have been crooning nonstop, calling out to Dovie to dig them up. Some of the old-timers believe that it’s the monstrous Ozarks howler snatching people off the Aux Arc Trail. Well Dovie doesn’t believe in the howler, and she doesn’t believe her best friend Lo when he tells her he is being haunted by dark shadows. All she believes in is her talent that guides the local sheriff to the bones when they begin their song, then reuniting the dead with their families to give them some peace. Lo doesn’t know peace, though. The shadows follow him everywhere. He soon learns they’re the murdered hikers and they want answers. But the truth of their deaths isn’t buried with their bones; it’s hidden somewhere deep in the hills. And Lo and Dovie must unearth it before anyone else is killed.
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1. The Physical Location
Our book's setting is a small town in Arkansas named "Lucifer's Creek". From the author's writing the reader could possibly imagine a town like the one pictured here. Discussion Question 1: Using evidence from the book, what language does the author use to help the reader visualize the physical location of the setting.
The physical realities of where the story takes place, including geography, landscape, and other factors (urban or rural; domestic or wild; inside or out; on earth or in space).
Discussion question 2: How does Ginny Myers Sain use details of the setting—such as descriptions of the town, local traditions, or technology—to show readers the particular time period in which When the Bones Sing takes place? What clues help you determine when the story is set, and why might that time period be important to the novel’s mood or themes?
2. Time
When does the story take place? In the past, the future, the present? What are the particular details of that time.
3. The Social World
Discussion question 3: How does the setting of Lucifer’s Creek and the surrounding Ozark Mountains shape the social world of the story? In what ways do the town’s isolation, traditions, and local beliefs influence how people treat one another and how Dovie understands her own identity?
Setting is not just about the physical aspects. It's also about the social world. Is the setting wealthy or poor? Homogenous or diverse? Are things improving or getting worse?
4. Change
Discussion Question 4: What kinds of change take place in When the Bones Sing — in Dovie, her family, or the town of Lucifer’s Creek? How does the author use the setting to help bring about or symbolize these changes? (An example of a change that happens is the uncovering of secrets Dovie experiences not only about her family, but her town)
Setting can also be affected by how it changes, either over time (the changing seasons or the construction of a house or town or city), or suddenly (a terrible storm). The changes that do (or don't) affect a setting are as important as the setting itself.
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The more specific an author can be with their setting, the more real the story will feel and the more the setting will start to "reach out" and affect the characters and their actions, in the same way the world around living people affects how they act and think.
Discussion Question 5: Ginny Myers Sain uses the Ozark Mountains and the small town of Lucifer’s Creek to create a sense of mystery in When the Bones Sing. How can you use what you’ve noticed about her descriptions, atmosphere, and details of place to make the settings in your own stories feel just as real and meaningful to readers?
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Discussion Question 6: Think of a story idea of your own. How could your setting influence what happens or how your characters feel? Write a few sentences explaining how the place you imagine could add tension, mystery, or meaning to your story.
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